I will be watching, for sure. Remains to be seen whether they add anything new to the story. I, for one, wasted years not visiting in the belief that a trip to Orkney was onerous. It's a quick 50 mins across the Pentland Firth.

Bumping this up, as it is on tonight between 9 and 10

"Orkney - seven miles off the coast of Scotland and cut off by the tumultuous Pentland Firth, the fastest flowing tidal race in Europe - is often viewed as being remote. Yet it is one of the treasure troves of archaeology in Britain.
Recent discoveries there are turning the stone age map of Britain upside down.

Rather than an outpost at the edge of the world, recent finds suggest an extraordinary theory… that Orkney was the cultural capital of our ancient world and the origin of the stone circle cult which culminated in Stonehenge."

Excellent program (even allowing for the needless bits - did he really need to climb that rock stack?) It brought back a lot of happy memories of my trip to Orkney. Looking forward to the next episode! :)

I visited last year: I certainly had great interest in the history but personally experienced it from more of a spiritual bent on balance.

I'm not very knowledgeable and so this might be a stupid question, but I understand that 60 stones originally made the Ring of Brodgar, and 12 stones formed the Stones of Stenness circle. This made me think of 'time'. Is there any connection, does anyone know?

Thanks.

Will watch the prog when I visit Blighty!

Having had my head full of other things of late I somehow seem to not have read this topic, and only became aware of the programme when a customer started praising it this afternoon..dang, being iPlayerless I've missed any telly screenings of the first part for now - doubtless a repeat will follow at some point - but at least there'll be a late night showing of the one just gone. Her rhapsodising about what she'd seen is enough to make me watch on its own.

Just a heads-up as they are repeating Part 2 again tonight BBC2 7.30 for those that missed it first time around!

As we have seen so far it would seem that the folk on Orkney 'traded' with the Mainland, or at least suggested that cattle and goods were sent across by boat for other reasons.

The skin covered type of boat featured, as wonderful as it was, would not be up to carrying cattle or goods and the increased manpower unless made of sterner stuff and much larger. As it was suggested that there was a great shortage of trees do you think it more likely that traders sailed from the Mainland to Orkney and brought cattle and goods back with them rather than the other way around? I'm assuming they had far more timber there for making more substantial boats but stand to be corrected on that point.
Although the boat featured was brilliant surely that type of construct would be more likely to be used closer to shore for fishing maybe?

What does the team think?

Aaaaaaaaaagh. My mate invited me round for a jar or three last night. I readily agreed, and got pleasantly merry. I was less so when I found out I'd missed the third episode too : ( : ( : ( hi ho..anyway, a question. Or two. Has the origin of the Orkney vole been determined now? Have there been any artifacts from far flung and unexpected places been discovered..if so, what? Have any artifacts from such places of contemporary date been found elsewhere on Orkney, or Shetland for that matter...or, indeed, in Denmark?

Still haven't seen it either, but I'm sure someone will fill you in, will watch today sometime and gather my thoughts. Scottish islands don't half sink into your soul as do little immigrant voles ;)

edit; which should go in answer to Spencer above, who was out drinking and missed it!

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/forum/?thread=75527&message=946293